Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevyn
I found some good info there - thank you. It's looking like we may try to push the car through the winter and replace it altogether at tax time. There seems to be little point in putting $300-$400 into it when we paid $900 for the car...
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Hmm.
Cars are an expense, not an investment. It doesn't matter that it's only worth $900 (or less) now, instead consider that for the price of maybe $300, you could have a car that keeps going all through next year - far cheaper than a down payment + payments on a new vehicle.
I'm not saying
don't buy a new car - by all means, if you think you'll be ready to do so and won't need to
rely on the GP in the intervening months (b/c you can take public transportation or drive another car,) then go for it!
I'm just saying, there's a tendency among Americans to assume that cars are an investment and it isn't "worth" fixing a car that has a low Blue Book value. I think that's a fallacy. If you're just looking strictly at finances, it's almost always better (cheaper) to fix an old car than buy a new one.